IMAGE OF EARTH AND QUILL

Guest Poet Jose M. Alonso-Sed


LONG POEM

Long poems
are a calam-
ity to keep a-
float: in a
prose-infect-
ed ocean,
metaphors
are just about
as extinct as
antidiluvian
fish.
Descriptive ad-
jectives -fear-
less sharks- at-
tack in packs of
three or four.
The few grace-
ful, light-weight
remaining meta-
phors don't have
a chance in a
million to sur-
vive, and, like
lead on water,
sink to the bot-
tom of the o-
cean, where
they lie side
by side ancient
treasures in
sunken galleons.
The solution
rests in treat-
ing the vessel
as a slim,
trimmed tape-
worm; seg-
ments hook-
ed each to
each by the
shear force of
the sleek hy-
phen.

November 1997


Jose M. Alonso-Sed's Questions:


1) Can this subject be taken seriously, or is it too trivial?
2) Is the diction in the poem correct, or does it need reworking?
3) Since this poem relies on its visual characteristic for its complete effect, is this medium -hypertext (?)- the appropriate one?


Correspond with Jose M. Alonso-Sed at
jalonsos@mail.sdsu.edu
with your ideas about this poem.



The Albany Poetry Workshop